Ruprecht Prusseit – the first man ever to win a Bundesliga title with a team from East Germany – led Union Berlin to a fifth Bundesliga title in six years and a second Champions League crown in three years in 2043. And that marks the moment where we brought this particular FM Story to an end.
It’s been quite the journey from the very bottom of German football in tier six with SV Dessau 05 through to the very top with Union Berlin. In the process, Prusseit managed 924 games, of which he won 563, drew 159 and lost 202 with a 60% win percentage, with his teams scoring 1,941 goals and conceding 998.
Prusseit won nine league titles, including five Bundesliga successes with Union, and won 11 cup competitions, achieving five promotions and suffering one relegation. He signed 131 players for a total outlay of £710m but sold 163 for an incoming of £835m. That included a record signing of £43m for failed full-back Amadou Diallo (who he was struggling to remember) and a record fee of £65m when striker Michael Storskov moved to Newcastle. And Prusseit’s career saw him become the fourth-best German manager of all time but missed out on the all-time Hall of Fame by 300 points to Jock Stein.
Ruprecht Prusseit Career Overview
Prusseit began his career with SV Dessau 05 back in 2021, leading the sixth-tier side to promotion in his first season before suffering his only career relegation after two seasons in tier five. His efforts with Dessau earned him a move to Lok Stendal before moving up to fourth-tier side Hansa Rostock II, where he won his first trophy by lifting Regionalliga Nordost. He immediately jumped ship but down a division to Energie Cottbus, where he again won the league before going on to win 3. Liga the following season.
That took Prusseit into the second tier of German football for the first time. However, his success at Cottbus attracted the attention of fellow second-tier club Union Berlin, who’d just been relegated from Bundesliga. He jumped at the opportunity and won the title at a canter with his new club to reach Bundesliga for the first time. A 13th-place finish followed before two 7th-place finishes then challenging Bayern for the title and finishing 2nd two years in a row.
But Prusseit became the first manager ever to win Bundesliga with an East German club in 2038 then went on to win four more in the next five years. He also won a European Conference League in 2036, DFB-Pokal in 2039, two Champions Leagues in 2041 and 2043 and won the World Club Cup as Union Berlin came World Champions.
Prusseit’s All-Conquering Union Berlin Side
There are many players who contributed great things through Prusseit’s journey, including free-scoring American striker Branden Stelmak at his first club Dessau, Stendal’s record-breaking striker Gisbert Zokpa, Rostock II’s surprise talent Alexander Schumacher, and Cottbus striker Eric Hottmann, who’d later go on to become one of his coaches at Union.
But I thought it’d be interesting to have a look at just how good the superb Union Berlin side of 2043 had become:
GK – Lee Kwang-Sun: Lee signed from South Korea in 2035 for just £2.4m and quickly established himself as arguably the best goalkeeper in the world. He conceded 198 in 250 league games over eight seasons at Union.
RB – Zé Serrão: A much larger fee brought Portuguese right-back Zé Serrão to the club as he joined for £38.5m from Braga in 2037. He started his career at the club slowly and went five seasons without a league goal, but finally did score in his sixth and final campaign, which was also his best with 13 assists and a 7.30 average rating.
CB – Abdelkarim Belkacem: Dutchman Belkacem was originally signed as a holding midfielder but soon found his way back to the more natural centre-back. He’s not much of a goalscorer, with just 13 in 279 league games over nine seasons since arriving for £13m from Feyenoord in 2035. But he is very much a rock at the heart of the Union defence.
CB – Cláudio Borborema: His partner in defence is brilliant Brazilian Borborema, who arrived a year later for £13.5m from Palemeiras. Borborema is absolutely wonderful, patrolling the back four with style and grace and only dipping below a 7.00 average rating in his first season. At 6 foot he’s not the biggest, but his 17 pace and acceleration helps him deal with any potential threats.
LB – Rogério Poulos: Left-back has been a slight issue throughout Prusseit’s time at the club, as proven by Poulos having to be converted from a right-back to get him into the team. Poulos signed for £13.5m from Flamengo in 2034 and, like Serrão, only scored his first league goal for the club in the most recent season. But these two full-backs provide the defensive qualities needed to support the ridiculous attacking talents in front of them.
DM – Dylan Feraud: Also providing defensive structure is Frenchman Feraud, who became the first-choice holding midfielder in the final season. He arrived for a massive £75m from Nice in 2041 but soon proved his worth, including scoring a rare goal in the Champions League Final victory over Man City.
CM – José Marco: Arguably the lynchpin to this Union team is the sole central midfielder José Marco. The Brazilian playmaker arrived from Paranaense for just £13.75m in 2039 and had a brilliant goalscoring campaign with 15 league goals in 2041. But he generally sits in midfield to dictate the tempo and adds the occasional goal and assist.
RW – Miroslav Milosevic: A relatively unsung hero of this save, Milosevic is an assist machine who also chips in with goals. The Serbian arrived for just £6.25m from Red Star in 2035 and scored 33 league goals in his first two seasons. But from there he turned creator, never dropping below 10 assists in a season and creating 86 league assists and 131 in all competitions over the next six campaigns.
AM – Leandro Van Dessel: The polar opposite of an unsung hero is the legendary Leandro Van Dessel. The Belgian is an absolute monster of a shadow striker, who scored 28 and assisted 25 in the most recent season. He’s scored 72 and assisted 74 in 152 league games and scored 121 and assisted 97 in 232 games in all competitions since signing for £26.5m from Anderlecht in 2035. And his talents have been crowned with all sorts of personal honours, including being the reigning FIFA Best Men’s Player.
LW – Bruno Rodríguez: Rodríguez is consistently considered the best player at Union despite the personal honours and more eye-catching numbers of some of his more colleagues. He arrived at the club for just £4.6m in 2035 from Peñarol, scoring 46 goals and getting 84 assists in 224 league games. But his average rating is consistently outstanding and he usually delivers in the biggest of matches.
ST – Claudio Sepúlveda: We’ve very much saved the best to last with the monstrous goal machine that is Chilean striker Sepúlveda. He’s absolutely smashed Union’s all-time goals records, including scoring 80 (EIGHTY!) in all competitions in the 2041/42 campaign. He arrived for just £7.5m from Colo-Colo in 2035 and only scored four in 17 league games in his first season. However, that changed very quickly as he went on to score 259 in 241 league games and 372 in 344 in all competitions, only getting 44 assists in that time! And he’s scored 50 or more goals in four of the last five seasons. He’s won a mass of awards in the process, being the reigning Ballon d’Or and double FIFPro Player of the Year winner. He is very much the best striker I’ve ever managed on Football Manager, with Bolton’s Onur Kocaaslan a close second.
That starting 11 is ably assisted by some stellar backups:
ST – Pablo Bermudez: Given Sepúlveda’s talents, recent recruit Bermudez doesn’t get much of a look-in, but he absolutely has the potential to be as good as the Chilean. He only scored twice in 15 games in his first season but, had we stayed, he would likely have been converted into a top-class midfielder.
GK – Adam Mihok: Very much a backup to Lee, Mihok has only started 10 league games in eight years. But he’s generally reliable when needed.
CB – Muck Wein: One for the future, Wein has impressed when called upon since signing for £36.5m from Hamburg in 2041. And he’s already earned two caps for Germany aged 19.
CM – Lucas Bastholt: Danish midfielder Bastholt is solid yet unspectacular, contributing no goals and 3 assists in his debut season since joining for £3.1m from OB. However, he has plenty of potential to become a quality midfielder.
LW – Giovanni Pasini: This exciting Italian attacker would undoubtedly go on to become the star of this team and probably the best player in the world in the next few seasons. He’s shown ridiculous progress since signing for £26m from Frankfurt in 2041 and, if it weren’t for the supreme talents of the attacking quadruple ahead of him, he’d already be a first-choice starter. However, he hasn’t started anywhere enough games as yet and only scored 11 goals as a result, but when he does become first choice he’ll become incredible. And he’s already got 8 caps for Italy.
DM – Satoru Iida: Iida was a critical part of this team until the most recent season when he got surpassed by Feraud as a result of a few injuries. The Japanese midfielder played 323 league games for Union, which is just 12 short of the all-time record held by Andreas Schäfer, and 429 in all competitions since signing for just £1m from Niigata Unicorn in 2032. He was a solid holding midfielder, who provided protection to the back four as well as chipping in with the occasional goal. That said, he would have been sold in the coming summer before his contract expired.
RB – Joey Teviotdale: This is pretty much Teviotdale’s first mention in this story, but the Scotsman arrived for £11.5m from Hearts to provide backup to Serrão. But he’s played 46 league games in two seasons, and got four assists and a 7.01 average rating in the final season.
CB – Roberto Pacheco: Very much a backup with limited potential, Pacheco hasn’t quite lived up to his promise has only played 21 league games in four seasons.
AM – Moise Vlad Paul: The Romanian backup has plenty of promise and plays well when given an opportunity, with a 7.18 average rating from 31 games and just 7 starts in his first league season at the club. But he definitely has the flair, passing and technique to be a strong attacking midfielder.
LB – Henrique Duarte: The Portuguese signed for £27m in the most recent summer to provide backup to both full-back roles. And he proved solid and dependable when called upon, including two Bundesliga goals.
LB – Lars Bergmann: The rarity of a Union youth product is the potentially exciting left-back Bergmann. He’s still only 16 and only made four appearances in all competitions as a result, but has the potential to go on and become a real star.
ST – Jonathan Mascia: Mascia was considered the best support act to Sepúlveda until his countryman Bermudez came along. As a result, his progress stalled a little this season, but he still scored 5 goals in 10 games and just 5 starts and certainly has the attributes to become a top-class striker.
ST – Danilo Luna: Yet another Uruguayan striker, Luna went on loan to Magdeburg and helped the East German side avoid relegation from Bundesliga. He’s certainly a player with the talent to go on and become one of the best in the world.
DM – Félix Costa: Given a couple more seasons, Costa would absolutely be part of this Union team. Signed for £4m from Real Madrid this season, Costa didn’t play for the first team but was exceptional in a successful U19 team and would have been promoted in the summer to replace Iida.
CM – Roberto Custódio: Generally considered a midfielder, Custódio looks to have more potential as a right-back. He’s been on loan in Mexico for 2 years and shown massive improvement, so would have been promoted to the first team in the summer. And he’s definitely someone that would have become a top-class player in this team.
This has been a fantastic journey, navigating the lower reaches of German football and making our way to the very top and conquering Europe with an East German club. I hope you enjoyed reading this FM Story and stay tuned for much more to come from both FM23 and looking ahead to FM24 very shortly!
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